Swapping Used Makeup Online -- Would You Ever?

As we all know far too well, buying beauty products is far from an exact science. You see a shade of lipstick that looks perfect, you get it home, it's horrific, you toss it into a bathroom drawer (with dozens of others like it) and go on about your day vowing to never again buy another lipstick. Until next time.

This is no great revelation. This cycle happens again and again and is the reason why many stores, like Rite Aid, have implemented policies that let you bring back any cosmetic that you're not happy with. But, how many of us do that?

Instead, some entrepreneurial women have taken to Reddit to rid purge their over-flowing bathroom drawers of unwanted beauty products -- by swapping them with others who want them. Evidently, one person's "aack" is another one's "ahhh".

In a forum called "Makeup Exchange," disgruntled shoppers can swap or sell the products they're not happy with. One woman, Maizie Chan, who spoke to the Fox affiliate in Dallas, Texas, says that she'd typically spend $100 each month on makeup but that lately she's taken to trading old products for new ones on the exchange.

"I got these 4 lip tars, which would each cost $18 at Sephora, for two lip glosses," Chan says, explaining that she only had to pay for shipping.

"I'd say the biggest issue is when you're using something around the eyes you can get viral infections, conjunctivitis, sties. Imagine using a lipstick that someone who had a fever blister used. It would be like kissing something with a fever blister," Wolthoff cautions. Yep. Deal breaker right there.

Chan says that although she's well aware of the risks involved when trading cosmetics with people you don't know, she's only had good experiences so far. But, lest you think she's a throw caution to the wind kind of gal, she does adhere to certain self-imposed rules like not trading mascaras or lip products that use an applicator.

For what it's worth, the Makeup Exchange does list a set of "sanitary" guidelines and cautions folks to swap at their own risk.

I don't know about y'all, but I prefer my makeup to come "risk" free. Would you ever be tempted to swap used products in an online forum?